Experimenting with new cookie flavors is Dorie Greenspan’s passion.
By FAYE LEVY, YAKIR LEVYUpdated: DECEMBER 13, 2016 00:50Rosemary Parmesan cookies(photo credit: YAKIR LEVY)
When author Dorie Greenspan closed her Manhattan cookie boutique, Beurre & Sel (French for “butter and salt”), cookie lovers were disappointed.Where would they get her chocolaty World Peace Cookies (see recipe) and French vanilla sables? She vowed to put together the recipes so that people could bake the cookies at home.These recipes became the nucleus of her new book, Dorie’s Cookies.At her baking demonstration at Melissa’s Produce, Greenspan told us she likes to “cookie-ize” popular pies and cakes. She turns pecan pie into delicious chocolate pecan pie bars. (See recipe.) She also makes strawberry shortcake cookies, pumpkin pie cookies with dulce de leche filling, and devil’s food cake waffle cookies.Experimenting with new cookie flavors is Greenspan’s passion. Chinese five-spice powder flavors her cranberry cookies. She uses star anise in her maple syrup- flavored sandwich cookies.While demonstrating how to make cookie dough, Greenspan shared cookie-making tips. To get crisper cookies, use white rather than brown sugar, she said.Although many recipes call for adding flour to cookie dough in several batches, Greenspan discovered that adding the flour all at once is better because there is less chance of overworking the dough. She always rolls out cookie dough between sheets of parchment paper because it’s easier and you don’t have to flour the dough.An all-cookie lunch was a highlight of her presentation.On the menu there were two kinds of sweet cookies: chocolate cookies and non-chocolate cookies. But not all the cookies were sweet. We loved Greenspan’s savory cookies, which she refers to as cocktail cookies, especially the rosemary Parmesan cookies (see recipe).Actually, we didn’t eat just cookies. There were sweet Korean pears, luscious Australian mangoes and sweet, juicy baby South African pineapples.We pretended that eating the fruit made our cookie lunch healthful!Faye Levy is the author of Chocolate Sensations.Chocolate pecan pie cookie barsGreenspan flavors the filling of these cookies with dark rum, “the best flavor perk-up for brown sugar and butter and a good match with chocolate.”Makes 24 barsShortbread crust: ■ 1½ cups all-purpose flour■ ½ cup confectioners’ sugar■ ¼ tsp. fine sea salt■ 128 gr. (4.5 oz. ) very cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces■ 1 large egg yolkTopping:■ ½ cup golden syrup or light or or dark corn syrup■ ¼ cup packed light brown sugar■ 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted■ 1 large egg■ 1 large egg yolk■ 2 Tbsp. dark rum or bourbon or 1½ tsp. additional pure vanilla extract■ 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract■ ½ tsp. fine sea salt■ About 180 gr. (6 oz.) pecan halves or pieces■ 85 gr. (3 oz.) chopped semisweet or bittersweet chocolate (or ½ cup chips)Center a rack in oven and preheat to 205°C (400°F). Butter a 23-cm. (9-in.) square baking pan, and butter a piece of foil (for covering the crust). Crust: Put flour, confectioners’ sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse a couple of times to blend. Scatter butter pieces over dry ingredients and pulse until butter is cut in coarsely – it doesn’t have to be evenly mixed. Stir the yolk just to break it up and add it little by little, pulsing after each addition. Then process in long pulses – about 10 seconds each, until dough forms moist clumps and curds. Pinch a piece of dough; it will hold together nicely. Turn dough out into buttered pan and spread it evenly. Using your fingertips, press dough down into pan to a compact layer. Don’t worry if it’s a bit uneven – it’ll be fine. Prick dough all over with a fork. Cover with the foil, buttered side down, and pour in some dried beans and/or rice as weights. Place pan on a baking sheet. Bake crust 15 minutes. Carefully remove foil and weights. Return pan, still on baking sheet, to oven. Bake another 5 minutes, or until crust edges are golden brown. Place pan on a rack.Topping:In a large bowl, whisk syrup with brown sugar. One by one, gently whisk in melted butter, egg, egg yolk, rum, vanilla and salt. With a flexible spatula, stir in pecans and chocolate.Pour topping over crust; if nuts seem unevenly distributed, spread them around. Bake about 25 minutes, or until topping has puffed across top and set – meaning, it won’t jiggle when you tap the pan. Transfer pan to a rack to cool to room temperature or until pan bottom feels comfortably warm.If you want to unmold the bars, run a table knife between bars and pan sides.Invert bars onto a rack and turn right side up onto a cutting board. Or cut carefully in pan. Cut into 24 bars, each 5.7 x 3.8 cm. (2¼ x 1½ in.).Little Rascals The flavor of these jam-filled sandwich cookies comes mostly from butter, sugar and walnuts, wrote Greenspan. The other flavorings are optional.Makes about 28 cookie sandwiches■ ²⁄3 cup sugar■ ²⁄3 cup walnuts■ ¼ tsp. fine sea salt■ Pinch of ground cinnamon (optional)■ A little finely grated lemon zest (optional)■ 1¼ cups all-purpose flour■ 113 gr. (4 oz.) cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces■ 1 large egg, lightly beaten■Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting■ About ¼ cup thick jam, such as raspberry, strawberry, cherry or apricotPut sugar, walnuts, salt, cinnamon and zest in a food processor and pulse until nuts are ground; it’s better to have a few pieces of nuts than to over-blend and get nut butter. Add flour and process to incorporate. Scatter butter pieces over mixture and pulse until mixture forms crumbs and resembles streusel. Add egg a little at a time, pulsing after each addition. Pulse a few more times to get a soft dough. Scrape dough onto a work surface, divide it in half and shape each in a disk. Working with one piece of dough at a time, roll dough between pieces of parchment until 6 mm. (¼ in.) thick. Slide dough, still in paper, onto a baking sheet – you can stack the slabs – and freeze for at least 1 hour. This dough remains soft even when frozen. Center a rack in oven and preheat to 175°C (350°F). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Have ready a 3.8-cm. (1½- inch) cookie cutter, and another slightly less than 2.5 cm. (1 in.). Pull out one piece of dough, keeping other one frozen. Peel away both pieces of parchment and return dough to one piece of paper. Working quickly, cut out as many 3.8-cm. (1½-in.) rounds as you can, placing them on baking sheet a scant 5 cm. (2 in.) apart. With smaller cutter, remove center of half the cookies. If dough breaks, patch it; if dough is too soft, freeze on baking sheet for 10 minutes. Reserve scraps, then combine with scraps from second piece of dough, shape in a disk, re-roll, freeze, cut and bake. Bake cookies for 14 to 16 minutes, rotating sheet after 10 minutes, or until pale golden brown. Transfer baking sheet to a rack to cool cookies completely. Repeat with remaining dough, using a cool baking sheet. Dust cut-out cookies with confectioners’ sugar. Turn whole cookies over, bottoms up, and place about ½ teaspoon jam in center of each one. Top with cut-out cookies, pressing down lightly to push jam toward the edges.Rosemary Parmesan cookiesThese savory cookies are a perfect match for white wine and champagne, wrote Greenspan. You can make them with toasted almonds instead of pecans.Makes about 60 cookies■ 3 Tbsp. sugar■ 2 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh rosemary■ 2 cups all-purpose flour■ ½ cup toasted pecans■ ¹⁄3 cup lightly packed grated Parmesan cheese■ ½ tsp. fine sea salt■ 226 gr. (8 oz.) cold unsalted butter, cut into small chunks■ 1 large egg yolk, lightly beatenIn a small bowl, rub sugar and chopped rosemary together with your fingertips until sugar is moist, aromatic and even tinged with green. Put flour, pecans, Parmesan, salt and rosemary-sugar in food processor and pulse to blend. Drop in cold butter pieces and pulse until mixture turns crumbly. Add beaten yolk a little at a time, pulsing after each addition. Continue to pulse to a moist dough that forms clumps and curds. Turn dough out and divide in half. Pat each half into a disk. Place one dough disk between two pieces of parchment paper and roll until 6 mm. (¼ inch) thick. Slide dough, still between the paper, onto a baking sheet – you can stack the slabs – and freeze at least 1 hour. Center a rack in oven and preheat to 175°C (350°F). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Peel away top and bottom papers from one dough piece and return dough to one piece of paper. With a 3.8-cm. (1½-in.) cutter, cut out as many cookies as you can and put on the lined sheet, leaving 2.5 cm. (1 in.) between them. Gather scraps; then combine them with scraps you get from second sheet of dough, re-roll, freeze, cut and bake. Bake cookies about 15 minutes, rotating baking sheet at the midway mark, or until they’re golden and set. Let them rest on baking sheet for 3 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool. Repeat with remaining dough, making sure you start with a cool baking sheet.World Peace CookiesGreenspan recommends splurging on good cocoa and great chocolate for making these cookies. “This is an unpredictable dough,” she wrote. “Sometimes it’s crumbly and sometimes it comes together... no matter what, the cookies are always great.”Makes about 36 cookies■ 1¼ cups all-purpose flour■ ¹⁄3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder■ ½ tsp. baking soda■ 155 gr. (5½ oz.) unsalted butter, cut into chunks, at room temperature■ ²⁄3 cup packed, light brown sugar■ ¼ cup sugar■ ½ tsp. fleur de sel or ¼ tsp. fine sea sal■ 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract■ 5 oz. (142 gr.) best-quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped into irregular bitsSift flour, cocoa and baking soda together. In a stand mixer with paddle or in a large bowl with hand mixer, beat butter with both sugars on medium speed until soft and homogeneous, about 3 minutes. Beat in salt and vanilla. Turn off mixer, add dry ingredients and pulse a few times to start blending. When the risk of flying flour has passed, beat on low speed until dough forms big, moist curds. Toss in chocolate pieces and mix to incorporate. Turn dough out onto a work surface and gather it together, kneading it if necessary to bring it together. Divide in half. Shape dough into logs of 3.8 cm. (1½ in.) diameter. (If you get a hollow in logs, shape again.) Wrap logs in plastic wrap and freeze at least 2 hours, or refrigerate at least 3 hours. Center a rack in oven and preheat to 165°C (325°F). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats. Working with one log at a time, use a long, sharp knife to slice dough into 1.3-cm.- (½-in.-) thick rounds. If they crack, just squeeze the bits back onto each cookie. Arrange rounds on the baking sheets, leaving about 5 cm. (2 in.) between them. If using 2 baking sheets, refrigerate one while you bake the other. Bake cookies for 12 minutes without opening oven. When timer rings, they won’t look done, nor will they be firm; that’s fine. Transfer baking sheet to a rack and let cookies rest until just warm or room temperature. Bake remaining dough on cool sheets.
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